Greek used-car dealer Chris Orsaris also took 70G from neighbor for Porsche, didn’t deliver title

A Queens used-car salesman has been accused of embezzling $7 million to live out his incredibly cliched and extravagant fantasy lifestyle. Greek Chris Orsaris, 37, was given a 164-count indictment, and is accused of defrauding Major Automotive Co., a $300 million-a-year business which currently has 14 NYC dealerships, including the Queens Major Chevrolet Long Island City, which Orsaris was general manager of, by funneling inflated sales commissions into his own pockets for his luxury needs.
Those luxuries included a $5.5 million Trump World Tower apartment, a $2.9 million Hamptons home, a $2 million Florida condo, and a $5 million Queens waterfront home; another former home of his, a pink mansion overlooking the Whitestone Bridge, was featured on the blog Queens Crap two years ago. He also owned an $860,000 yacht proudly named “B LOWME” (and he filed a bogus claim that it was stolen!).
Federal officials also accuse Orsaris of hiring thugs and drug dealers to work as his bodyguards, chauffeurs and personal assistants, between 2004 and 2009, the Daily News reports. The NY Times interviewed him in 2008 for a story on watching out for shady used car dealers, referring to Orsaris as a dealer with a “respected practice”:
Mr. Orsaris said that his industry is filled with bad apples, but that punitive fines do little to deter them. “Fines are nothing — you pay a fine, you’re done, you’re out,” he said.
Instead, he said, his proposal for the department was “to be careful whom they give a license to and to do a thorough background check.”